Shuttle for sewing-machines.



Patented July 4, I899.

P. H. HEWITT, EWA. COCKLE &. C. MATTHEWS.

. SHUTTLE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

(Applicltion fil ed m 4, 1898.) i N 0 II o d e I.)

FIG. 2

m: NORRIS PETERS qo. Pno'ro-LnNa, WASHINGTON, a, c.

UNITED. STAT S;

PATENT OEEIcE.

PERCY HUGHES HEWITT, EDWIN A. COOKLE, AND cHARLEs MATTHEWS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

SHUTTLEFOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 628,329, dated July 4, 1899. Application filed May 4, 1898. Serial No. 679,692. o model.)

To allwhom it may concern.-

, Beit known that we, PERCY HUGHES HEW- ITT, barrister at law, a resident of Oakley House, Spring Grove, Isleworth, London,W.-, and EDWIN ALLEN OocKLE and GHARLEs MATTHEWS, bootmakers, residents of Set Victor Terrace, Harrow road, Willesden, London, N. W., England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machines (for which an application for patent has been filed in Great Britain, dated March 7, 1898, No. 5,587), of which the [following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to two-thread sewing-,

machines of the rotary reciprocating or oscillating shuttle-type; and it has for its object to adapt the shuttle co-receive an ordinary full-sized reel of thread, so as to avoid the disadvantages incidental to the use of a special spool of small capacity, such as is generally employed, these disadvantages being the loss of time in winding the thread from the reel onto the spool and inthe various operations involved in exchanging the empty for the fullvspool, and, further, the necessity ofproviding spool-windingmechanism,'and so adding to the initial cost of the sewing-machine.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a face view of the shuttle separately. Fig. 2 is a similar View with the front cover removed, showing also the shuttle-driver. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the shuttle on the plane of the reel-axis. Fig. l; is a top edge view of the shuttle, showing also the race in section at the plane of the joint of the removable portion of said race. Fig. 5is a face view of the shuttle race and driver;

and Fig. 6 is a central vertical cross-section of the same, the shuttle being indicated in broken lines.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The shuttle A is a box of partly-circular form in face view, (being flattened for about one-third of its periphery, as at A, where it lies againstthe shuttle-driver 13,) the circular portion having a peripheral rim 0 terminating at one end in the form of a point or hook c, which projects beyond the flattened part of the body of the shuttle and is adapted to engage with the loop of the needle-thread, this rim 0 being adapted to run in a groove in the circular shuttle-race N, in which the shuttle receives rotary reciprocating motion through the mediumof the oscillating shuttlecarrier or driver B, whose horns b b engage with the point and heel ends of the peripheral rim of the shuttle, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5. The body A of the shuttle is approximately of biconvexlenticular form in cross-section, the sides of the shuttle sloping away, as at a a, in opposite directions from the peripheral rim 0, so. as to cause the loop of needle-thread caught by the hook c of theshuttle to be' spread out and slipped over the body of the shuttle as the latter continues its forward rotation after the hook has caught the loop. The front side A of the shuttle-body is formed by a removable lid or cover, which may-either be permanently hinged to the shuttle-body or detachably connected ,thereto- I as, for instance, by lugs engaging with the flattened side A of the body portion, as at oi, the lugs acting also as springs to retain a nib a at the opposite side of the cover in engagement with an aperture (0 in the body of the shuttle.

Within the body A of the shuttle (which is made of suitable dimensions for this purpose) a commercial reel of thread E is mounted to rotate upon a spindle F, diametrically placed within'the shuttle, the thread as it is drawn from the reel passing directly beneath a thread-guideand tension-spring G, mounted on the inside of the cover A and out through a central hole g in the cover. The spindle F, on which the reel revolves, lies as nearly as possible in the central plane of the shuttle and it is adapted to receive reels of various lengths up to the ordinary full-sized commercial reel generally used, the spindle being removably mounted between spring-centers so as to admitof being easily removed from the shuttle in order to insert'a new reel. For this purpose the spindle F has a conical bearing f countersunk in its lower end to fit on a conical center H, carried by a stem h, fitted to slide in a socket in the peripheral rim of the shuttle and pressed upward by a bowed spring h. Upon the spindle F, which may be of square section for this purpose, a sleeve I is fitted to slide without turning, said sleeve having a coned portion 1', adapted to fit in the bore of the reel E, and a disk portion t", between which and a flange j on the foot of the spindle is confined a spiral spring J. Upon the opposite end of the spindle and fitted to turn as one therewith is mounted another loose sleeve K, having a conical portion 70, adapted to fit the opposite end of the bore of the reel, the outer end of the sleeve K being closed and provided with a coned center K, which is received and rotates in a conical bearing in the rim of the shuttle-body, as shown in Fig. 3. By the arrangement described the reel is held between the two cones t' k by the pressure of the spring J, while the spindle F with the sleeve K is held between the coned centers H and K by the pressure of the spring h. The spring h admits of the spindle F with the reel and coned sleeves fitted upon it, being easily and as a whole introduced into or removed from the shuttle, the same spring also-serving to impart tension to the thread, while the spring J insures adequate pressure of the cones t 7c against the ends of the reel when the latter is of a length less than the full-sized reel shown. A shoulder f on the spindle is engaged by the sleeve I when the reel is depressed during insertion or removal, and thus insures at the proper time such compression of the spring 71/ as is required to permit of the center K entering or leaving its bearing in the shuttle-body, or the reel may be removably mounted between spring-centers without any spindle, the axis of the reel being always substantially diametrical of the shuttle, so that the reel oscillates to and fro with the shuttle about the axis of rotation of the latter, the springs which press the centers into the bore of the reel serving also to impart tension to the thread.

The thread-guide and tension-spring G is a bowed wire whose two limbs are clamped against the inside of the cover A with more or less pressure by the screwing together of the inner and outer members 9 g of an eyelet or bush, through the bore 9 of which the thread passes, one end of the spring G being looped and secured by a stud g on the inside of the cover to retain the spring in place, while the other end of the spring is left free in order to permit of the bight of the thread m being passed under the wire in the operation of threading the shuttle. The bush g g is concentric with the axis of rotation of the shuttle, and that portion of the spring G which forms a guide for the thread is curved to a radius concentric with the same axis, as indicated in Fig. 1. lhe body of the shuttle has a peripheral slot at Zto insure the shuttle clearing the point of the needle.

The lid or cover A of the shuttle is readily removable through the front aperture of the annular shuttle-race N, so that the shuttle itself need not be removed for the purpose of changing the reel. In order, however, to permit of the easy insertion and removal of the shuttle, a segment N of the front side of the race is made removable, preferably by being swung aside on a pivot 11, and is normally secured in position by means of a thumb-screw 11 The shuttle-race N and shuttle-driver B correspond in dimensions to the shuttle, and the mechanism of the machine is so proportioned as to increase the range of the takeup sufliciently to enable it to take up the increased slack of the needle-thead loop consequent on the increased size of the shuttle, these alterations being merely a matter of calculation not necessarily involving any change in the design or operation of the machine.

We claim- 1. In a rotary reciprocating shuttle (for a two-thread sewing-machine) wherein a reel of thread is mounted to rotate about an axis substantially diametrical of the shuttle, the combination with the removable front cover of the shuttle, of a thread-guide and tension device consisting of a bowed spring in combination with a screw-threaded eyelet or bush whereby the limbs of the bow spring are clamped with adjustable pressure against the inside of the cover of the shuttle, the bore of the eyelet or bush being concentric with the axis of rotation of the shuttle substantially as specified.

2. A shuttle having a thread-exit hole and an adjustable eyelet in said hole and a threadtension controlled by said 'eyelet, substantially as described.

3. A shuttle having a thread-exit hole, an eyelet in said hole formed of two engaging and adjustable eyelets, and a tension device supported and adjustable by said eyelets, substantially as described.

4. A shuttle having a thread-exit opening and a thread-guide consisting of a bar having its outer or thread-guiding edge formed as a segment of a circle concentric with the thread exit opening, substantially as described.

5. A shuttle comprising a case having a thread-exit opening and a combined tension and thread-guide formed as a bar having a segmental section concentric with the threadexit opening and lying close against the side of the case, and means for pressing this bar against the side of the case, substantially as described.

6. A shuttle comprising a case having a thread-exit opening and a combined tension and thread-guide formed as a bar having a segmental section concentric with the threadexit opening and lying close against the side of the case, a screw-threaded eyelet fitting the thread-exit opening and engaging the combined tension-bar vand thread-guide to member engaging said bar upon each side of clamp the thread against the case, substanthe segmental section,-substantia11y as de-' tially as described. scribed.

h7. A shuttle comprising a case having a 5 t read-exit opening and a combined tension and thread-guide formed as a bar having a segmental section concentric with the threadexit opening and lying close against the side In presence of of the case, one end of said bar being secured O. G. CLARK, [O to the case and a thread-tension-adjusting T. W. KENNARD.

PERCY HUGHES HEW-ITT. 

